The Judge looked at Iris with a curious expression. "Oh, please do tell us, Ms. Hawthorne."
Iris took a deep breath. "As stated by Mr. Payne prior, an iPhone that is believed to be the defendant's was found at the scene of the crime. But what if that's not the case?"
"Hmm?" Payne raised a brow. "Just what are you implying, Ms. Hawthorne?"
"What if that phone isn't the defendant's..."
Alright, here goes...
"But rather...Mr. Wellington's!" she exclaimed, pointing accusingly at the aforementioned witness.
The entire Gallery then erupted into a cascade of shocked gasps and shouts that caused the Judge to pound his gavel to silence them. "Order! Order in the court!"
Mr. Wellington, however, paid no heed to the Judge pleas as he glared at Iris with murderous fury.
"You...you LOUSY, THIRD-RATE EXCUSE OF A LAWYER!" he roared out in blazing fury. "HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF SUCH A HEINOUS CRIME, YOU STUPID BI-!"
"OBJECTION!" Payne interrupted, sweating profusely. "B-baseless! The defense is making a mockery of this court! Without any solid ground to stand on, she accuses the witness of being the murderer!"
"Oh?" Iris sneered, crossing her arms. "Then why don't we look at this from a different perspective? Tell me, Mr. Wellington, why should I NOT believe that you're the murderer?"
"W-well, t-that's easy...!" Mr. Wellington stammered. "There's...um...the name that the victim wrote!"
"You mean Ini?"
"YES!" Wellington snapped. "Even a dumb bimbo like you can read that, right!?"
Diego let out a low growl as he glared down at Wellington.
"And that means the real criminal is someone the victim knew, right?!" Wellington continued. "Otherwise, how else would that person know who Ini is?!"
"Don't you know Ini as well, Smellington?" Diego interjected.
"IT'S WELLINGTON, YOU UNEDUCATED-!"
"Because I remember you calling Ini your ex-lover," Diego interrupted with a sly grin, silencing Wellington.
"Yes, and there have been several sources that claim you as the romantic partner of the defendant," Iris added. "Yourself being one of them..."
Wellington was now sweating like crazy and hyperventilating. "Well, I-I-er..."
"OBJECTION!" Payne shouted. "T-the defense is just assaulting the witness with accusations, Your Honor! And besides, even though the witness is perfectly familiar with the defendant, he has no motive!"
"And your point is?" the Judge asked.
"It's very simple, Your Honor. A person usually would not kill someone without a reason. Mr. Wellington had no reason to kill anyone!"
Iris' eyes widened in surprise. Oh, dear...I forgot about that!
The Judge stroked his beard in thought. "Ms. Hawthorne..."
"Y-yes, Your Honor?"
"Can you explain what motive the witness could have had?"
Iris paused for a moment. A motive? What sort of motive could he have? She was so certain he was the true culprit, she just...
I rushed in too fast, Iris thought to herself solemnly. I...I was just so angry at him, I accused him of being the killer...
Iris started tearing up, unable to think of a reason as to why Mr. Wellington would commit the murderer. I'm sorry, Ini...but I'm not cut out for this...
"You can't cry now, Flower," Diego said, grabbing her attention. "The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over."
"But it might as well be, Sir..." Iris murmured. "I went in there too fast...accusing someone with little evidence..."
"Well, what I saw was a woman sticking to her guns," Diego responded. "You're close, Flower, I know it. You just need to think outside the box."
Iris perked up at that. Outside the box...?
"Now think," Diego said. "What motive could Smellington have that would drive him to murder Mimi Miney? Look for the clues, Flower, they're right here in this court..."
Outside the box, Iris repeated in her mind. What clue there be to...oh...OH!
"Ms. Hawthorne?" the Judge asked, a little impatient.
"...it's very simple, Your Honor," Iris said, causing Wellington to shiver in fear. "The reason the murderer committed the crime is the list."
The Judge raised a brow. "The list?"
"Yes, the list," Iris reported. "A list containing the names and phone numbers of a certain group of con-artists."
Wellington began sweating profusely. "W-where did that come from...?!"
"And while the prosecution believes that these came from the defendant's phone, I believe otherwise. So tell me, Mr. Wellington...why were these names and numbers on your phone?!"
"Ack!" Mr. Wellington shouted.
"Hold on, Ms. Hawthorne!" the Judge interjected. "What does this have to do with Mr. Wellington's motive?"
"It's simple, Your Honor," Iris began to explain. "The witness is a member of this group. And the defendant was his intended victim. Mr. Wellington here played the gentleman's game...pretending to love the defendant to gain her trust.
"Knowing that the defendant has ties to Hazakura Temple, a place housing prized artifacts like the Shichishito, he took the opportunity to steal those artifacts to make a profit for himself and his group.
"And as to why the defendant has his phone? Perhaps he planted it there to fool the police into thinking the defendant is a member of this group to avoid suspicion. So, Mr. Wellington..."
She gave the witness a chilling glare. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"N-nooooo!" Wellington shouted, hyperventilating. "T-this is too much!"
"OBJECTION!" Payne butted himself in. "Y-your Honor, the t-the defense is assaulting the witness with accusations!"
"Didn't you say the same thing a few moments ago?" the Judge pointed out.
"B-but please consider this, Your Honor! We have no solid proof that the witness is truly a member of this con-artist group!"
"Y-yeah!" Mr. Wellington added. "And besides, how could that be from my phone if I have my phone right here!"
He reached into his pocket and showed the entire courtroom his phone, shaking it even just to prove a point.
"That phone and the one the prosecution currently possesses are of the same brand, though," Iris pointed out. "They even have the same color!"
"Yes, the defense does have a point and their theory about the witness' motive is an intriguing one," the Judge said. "However, there is no proof to back this theory."
"Yes!" Mr. Wellington shouted. "Finally, some common sense in this court!"
The Judge shot a quick glare at Mr. Wellington before continuing. "As such, Ms. Hawthorne, the court requests further evidence to back this claim."
"Further evidence?" Iris repeated.
"Yes, FURTHER EVIDENCE!" Wellington shouted. "Or is that something your third-rate education forgot to teach you?!"
Diego scowled, gripping the handle of his coffee mug. "I have just about had it with this guy..."
"All you've been waving around and talking about is that suspicious cell phone," Wellington said. "Suspicious phone number this, suspicious con group that! They're all on that phone! But who's to say that the phone is really mine!? Where's your proof!? Your evidence!?"
"You want proof that the phone the prosecution currently holds is yours?" Iris asked.
Wellington laughed maniacally. "I already told you earlier! I already found the phone I've lost! You don't have even the slightest idea who the phone in your hand belongs to! You can be sure it isn't mine, you bimbo!"
Iris gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists. Why you...!
Wellington smiled sinisterly. "Oh, how good it feels to see you squirm..."
"We do seem to have a problem on our hands with this phone," the Judge said. "Without knowing its true owner, it's meaningless as evidence."
"Your Honor!" Iris shouted. This is bad! I can't let him turn the tables on me like this!
"Oh, what's this? Still have some fight left are we?" Mr. Wellington mocked. "Not surprising since the idiotic never truly know when they have lost!"
There must be something I overlooked!
"But just to shove it into your empty head. My. Phone. Is. Right. Here!" he shouted, showing off the phone in his hand. "And there is nothing you're going to find in it that says I'm the culprit!"
Something I missed...!
"Ms. Hawthorne," the Judge said. "If you cannot prove who the owner of that cell phone is, your indictment has no basis, and therefore, no power. It looks like you came up a penny short."
"No..." Iris muttered solemnly. No...I refuse to go down like this! This...this can't be how this trial ends...!
Iris' eyes widened in realization. Wait!
The Judge raised his gavel. "The court hereby concludes the cross-"
"HOLD IT!" Iris shouted at the top of her lungs, shocking everyone in court, except for Diego, who simply smiled at her.
"M-ms. Hawthorne, what is the meaning of this?!" the Judge demanded.
In just a few seconds, she took out a pen and a piece of pad paper and wrote something down on it. "Here, Your Honor, please take this."
The Judge took the pad paper from Iris and examined it. "A phone number? How nice."
He then reached into his pocket and handed Iris a business card. "Here's my number-wait, what am I doing? Ms. Hawthorne, this is no time to exchange phone numbers!"
"That's not my phone number, Your Honor," Iris said. "But that is the defendant's phone number!"
The Judge raised a brow. "Is that so?"
Iris nodded. "Yes, and for proof..."
Iris pulled out her phone and demonstrated the list of contacts she had to the Judge. One of them was Ini Miney and the number presented on her phone was the same as the one on the pad paper.
Once the Judge was done looking, Iris snatched the paper from his hand, then handed it to Diego. "Sir, can you please call this number from your cellphone?"
Diego raised a brow. "In the middle of the trial?"
"Yes," Iris answered, determination burning in her eyes.
Diego couldn't help but grin at Iris's assertiveness. "With pleasure."
"Is the defense preparing something, Ms. Hawthorne?" the Judge asked.
This is my only shot to win this case. Please, let this work...
"We are going to call Ms. Miney's cellphone now," Iris said, just as she remembered one of the lines Diego had told her. "And then the sweet fragrance of truth will soon fill the air!"
Mr. Wellington groaned in annoyance. "Of all the stupid, idiotic-"
"~I'm a Barbie Girl! In a Barbie World~"
"~Life in plastic, it's fantastic~"
Mr. Wellington's eyes widened in shock. "Wh...that isn't Toccata and Fugue in D minor! What is this stupid ringtone-!"
"How strange..." Iris said in a menacingly playful tone. "It's almost as if you're holding Ms. Miney's phone!"
If Mr. Wellington wasn't stressed from all the previous parts of the trial, he certainly was now. Sweat dripping down his brow like a hail of bullets, he gripped his scarf tightly to the point he was almost choking himself with it, and he was breathing too fast to consider it hyperventilation.
"Nnnngh!"
Iris smirked at the sight. Oh, how she just loved to see him squirm!
"Please do explain yourself, Mr. Wellington..." she said, giving Wellington a malicious stare. "The court doesn't have all day..."
Wellington opened his mouth in an attempt to spout another lie, but nothing came out. He tried to let out a word, but all that came out was just frightening sounds. He was petrified! He was too scared to say anything!
"Nnnngh!"
Iris' smirk transformed into a devilish grin and in his panic, Wellington thought he saw the color in Iris' eyes vanishing.
As the fear and the stress kept creeping up Mr. Wellington, all he could do was stare back in horror at Iris' pupil-less dead glare as she coldly said to him, "We're waiting, Mr. Wellington..."
"Nnnngh...AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaggggggghhhn!"
. . .
The Truth:
Richard Wellington was a small-time con artist and a low ranking member of a con artist group that had been troubling the people of Los Angeles for months. During his spare time, he met up with the ditzy but goodhearted parapsychology student Ini Miney and used his charms to manipulate the girl into loving him, much to her sister Mimi Miney's suspicions and chagrin.
Upon noticing that Ini Miney had ties to Hazakura Temple, home to the legendary Shichishito, Wellington saw it as an opportunity to rise above the ranks in his group and convinced Ini to conduct her thesis at the temple. During the interview, Ini accidentally bumped into Wellington, causing both of them to drop their phones. Wellington accidentally grabbed Ini's.
When Wellington excused himself from the interview because of a stomach ache, he went to the storage room. Using a pair of lockpicks, he snuck in and took the Shichishito for himself...only to be spotted by Mimi. Out of desperation, he committed the brutal murder, and soon enough, arranged everything to make it look like lni committed the crime.
When Ini wandered off to search for Wellington, she dropped her phone in shock when she rushed to her sister's dead body. The rest that followed after that was history...
. . .
"So that's what happened," the Judge said, absorbing all the information gotten from Wellington's sudden confession. "Bailiffs, take him away."
A pair of bailiffs arrived at the scene and dragged Wellington away for his arrest. Hw didn't bother to fight back against them as he was too tired from the trial. As they left, the Judge and Iris noticed that Payne looked uncomfortable...
"Is there something wrong, Mr. Payne?" the Judge asked.
"I lost...to a rookie...me...the Rookie Killer..." he muttered to himself, shaking in distress. "And my decisive witness...was the murderer..."
The fear and stress were just too much for him. He breathed heavily, his sweat ruined his whole suit, and...was his hair falling out of his head?
"NOOO! MY HAIR!" Payne cried out in horror as his hair fell out of his head, lock after lock. "MY PRECIOUS BEAUTIFUL HAIR! DON'T LEAVE ME, BABY, PLEASE!"
After every strand of his hair fell out of his head and onto the floor, he let out a wail of despair as he knelt and cried over the loss of the most precious thing in his life.
"Oh dear," Iris said, concerned. "Do you need any help, Mr. Payne?"
"Just end the trial already," he mumbled tearfully. "I don't care anymore..."
"V-very well," the Judge said. "This court finds the defendant, Ini Miney..."
NOT GUILTY!